It was clear in the aftermath of the fall of Roe v. Wade that the pro-life movement had no real strategy for addressing the way forward from that point. It was caught off guard by the comprehensive nature of the backlash so that in retrospect the victory now seems a Pyrrhic one, followed by nothing but defeats and setbacks everywhere the question has been put on the ballot. American churches now face an analogous question: What is the plan forward for such churches given that the political landscape is about to make explicit the underlying abolition of man that the modern revolution of the self represents? Online cosplayers may well continue their posturing and polemics as if nothing has changed. But congregations are generally made up of real people who live in the real world. They have jobs, mortgages, and student loans. They have to be in the world, even as they are called not to be of it. How is the Church to minister to such?
Some churches will struggle with this. Those who have instrumentalized the gospel to this-worldly ends, whether those who peddle the prosperity gospel or those who focus their attention on political/cultural issues, left and right, may well be doomed. Once doctrinal truth is subordinated in either function or emphasis to worldly success of whatever kind, then when such success fails to materialize, so much the worse for the doctrine.
Carl Trueman | “The Church faces the challenge of pro-abortion America” | September 18, 2024
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